The official dethroning and passing of the baton....

[King Tendulkar]

The baton has passed indeed. But not to SA but to INDIA. We are number 1 in world not SA. We put the aussies on the canvas they just finished the job off. We played aussies when they were full of self belief and confidence. SA played them when riddled with self doubt. SA are no were near as good as us. They have no spinner, missing an opening bat and have passengers in middle order. WE ARE THE BEST SIDE IN WORLD and will prove it.

[Lord]

The baton has passed indeed. But not to SA but to INDIA. We are number 1 in world not SA. We put the aussies on the canvas they just finished the job off. We played aussies when they were full of self belief and confidence. SA played them when riddled with self doubt. SA are no were near as good as us. They have no spinner, missing an opening bat and have passengers in middle order. WE ARE THE BEST SIDE IN WORLD and will prove it.

but SA has beaten aus in their own backyard.n have been performing consistently.they drew wewn they came to india.we lost wen we went there

[Shane]

South Africa ends year with a victory that demonstrates Australia's fall The penultimate day of 2008 put an emphatic exclamation point on one of the cricketing year's principal themes: the decline of a dynasty. As the year ended, so did a significant era in the history of five-day test cricket. South Africa beat Australia by nine wickets in Melbourne on Tuesday to take a 2-0 lead with one match to play in the series. It is the first visiting team to win a series in Australia in nearly 16 years. More than one-third of all the test cricket ever played has taken place since Australia lost 2-1 to the West Indies early in 1993. In this period Australia won 23 of its 26 home series, winning 65 matches out of 89. Its relentless attacking revolutionized test cricket. It scored runs at an unprecedented pace and took wickets so fast that drawn matches became a rarity. That hegemony ended on Tuesday. Australia's defeat against South Africa followed a 2-0 series loss in India. The toll taken by the retirement of great players finally became too much. Australia held dominant positions in both matches against South Africa, but was unable to drive home its advantage. South Africa had waited 106 years to win a series in Australia. It had been overwhelmed by Australia in the recent past. This time, it had the skill and confidence needed to fight back and win. During the match, two South Africans added personal exclamation points to a year of individual triumph. Dale Steyn, a South African fast bowler, captured five wickets in each innings to take his total in tests in 2008 to a world-leading 74. His captain, Graeme Smith, made 75 as South Africa cruised to victory on Tuesday and topped the year's batting aggregates with 1,655 runs, the third-highest single-year total in test history. It included six innings of 100 or more. Australia's accumulated achievements preserve, for the moment, its official No. 1 ranking. In reality it is, at best, No. 3. South Africa and India, which drew 1-1 earlier in the year, now contest the title of best team in the world. India could celebrate both team success and a personal landmark. Its great batting hero, Sachin Tendulkar, added the all-time record for test runs, passing Brian Lara's previous mark of 11,953, to his extensive portfolio of achievements. While India must battle for world leadership on the field, 2008 demonstrated that it is clearly cricket's dominant power off it. This was the year it flexed the muscle that comes from generating 80 percent of the sport's global income. Its instrument was the new India Premier League, an officially backed competition played by eight city-based franchises in Twenty20, cricket's newest, shortest and most explosive format. The IPL's defining event took place before a ball had been bowled, in Mumbai on Feb. 20. A giant rotisserie league auction dusted with Bollywood glitter had the twist that these were real players on the block. The bulk of the world's prime cricketing talent was knocked down one by one to the eight franchises. Most were paid sums they could only previously have dreamed of. The entire event challenged assumptions that the five-day test is the most significant form of cricket and the most important matches are played by national teams. Players who earn the bulk of their income from a brief season with an IPL team drawn from several nations, in a format designed to last only around three hours, may think differently. England, whose domestic season coincides with the IPL's program, was panicked by fear of losing its best players into a shotgun alliance with Allan Stanford, an American billionaire, for matches concluding with a $1-million-per-head, winner-takes-all contest between England and Stanford's West Indies select. The event supplied the indelible image of Stanford posing with a packing case containing $20 million at the opening at Lord's cricket ground in London,. But the final was utterly anticlimactic and the competition's future is in doubt. The IPL, with Bollywood stars backing franchises, controversy over American-style cheerleaders, and large, noisy crowds, was anything but anticlimactic. It even concluded with the joyously paradoxical reminder that money is not everything. The Rajasthan Royals were criticized for underspending their budget but had the good sense to devote some of it to recruiting the Australian spin legend Shane Warne. He proved an inspiring and imaginative captain-coach who welded apparently unpromising material into an all-conquering team. Initially the attacks in Mumbai in late November seemed to threaten India's increasingly dominant role, but the speed with which England returned to resume an interrupted tour showed otherwise. India's wealth means it is unlikely to be isolated, as Pakistan has been, by security fears. Pakistan did not play a test match in 2008. The Australians cancelled a tour. The Champions Trophy was also postponed. While Pakistan will host Sri Lanka in January, the event originally scheduled was a visit by India, which decided not to go for security and political reasons. Significant retirements in 2008 included the Australia duo of magnificent batsman-wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist and quirkily individual spinner Stuart MacGill, South African all-rounder Shaun Pollock and New Zealand's long-serving captain, Stephen Fleming. Yet even here India predominated with the departure of two former captains, the abrasively competitive Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble, the third highest test wicket-taker of all time.

[cowboysfan]

for people like me who grew with the aussies dominating cricket their whole lives this moment cannot be overstated-i just hope this new found parity in cricket lasts forever,makes for some exciting cricket.

[cochise]

for people like me who grew with the aussies dominating cricket their whole lives this moment cannot be overstated-i just hope this new found parity in cricket lasts forever,makes for some exciting cricket.

Exactly!

[King Tendulkar]

but SA has beaten aus in their own backyard.n have been performing consistently.they drew wewn they came to india.we lost wen we went there

Only just lost. JUST. And we are miles better since then. We are No 1 and the best. We beat aussies in their back yard 2 series in a row, well I still say we dide just got ROBBED by ****nor and co. Well done SA you can be number no 2. But we are the best. And mark my words we will prove this over next 18 months.

[cochise]

No...we only really fired up when facing Aus because they were the champs...now that the field is open for all contenders...SA...HAH! We will annihilate them! Are you kidding?

[jf1gp_1]

They just beat Aus in Aus, they are No 1 team; i just hope SA wins the next test and official snatch that no 1 rank from aussies. they have had it for a long time. Great work by SA.

[fineleg]

Certainly SA is #1 no matter what the ranking says. India need to improve their consistency and have ways to go before they can dominate like how SA have done (and Aus have done in the past).

[cochise]

Certainly SA is #1 no matter what the ranking says.

India is No 1. F**** SA...***** team...they beat a much harder bunch of mofo's that we softened up for them. INDIA IS NUMBER 1. Get used to it.

[King]

South Africa are an excellent team and so is India. Indian batsmen will hold fort against this South African bowling but am not so sure if Saffie batting can come up trumps against Indian bowling attack. Australia is definitely not as good as Saffies or the Indians. Couple of series' between Saffies and India will prove to be the decider as to who's better among the two. As for people quoting India's loss against Sri Lanka, South Africa were thrashed by Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka too so there's not much to choose between the two.

[Dhondy]

South Africa are an excellent team and so is India. Indian batsmen will hold fort against this South African bowling but am not so sure if Saffie batting can come up trumps against Indian bowling attack. Australia is definitely not as good as Saffies or the Indians. Couple of series' between Saffies and India will prove to be the decider as to who's better among the two. As for people quoting India's loss against Sri Lanka' date=' South Africa were thrashed by Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka too so there's not much to choose between the two.[/quote'] It's not often that you are anything other than completely objective, Ravi, so couldn't resist catching you out.:winky: SA beat us at home and drew against us away. Apart from SL, and that draw v India, they have now beaten every single side away from home, the mark of a truly great team. We won away against England and WI. That's it. No comparison, I'm afraid.

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[King]

It's not often that you are anything other than completely objective, Ravi, so couldn't resist catching you out.:winky: SA beat us at home and drew against us away. Apart from SL, and that draw v India, they have now beaten every single side away from home, the mark of a truly great team. We won away against England and WI. That's it. No comparison, I'm afraid.

I'm sure you will remember the likes of Ishant Sharma didn't play in South Africa. India were few decisions away from winning the Sydney test match in Australia. Nothing of that sort of umpiring we noticed against South Africa. Despite that, India traded punches against a full strength Australia in Australia and later even beat them 2 zip in the tri-series. I'm afraid I can't rate India any less than South Africa. I still reckon South Africa will struggle to win series' in sub continent.

[punjabi_khota]

We would have won in SL had it not been for Mendis. SF lost there without having to face him.

[Chorazin Reto]

I dont think Australia was at full strength(Symonds/Lee not 100%, Clark injured) but having said that Lee and Symonds were still cleared to play when they probably should have been on the bench to let younger players into the squad. But going with players at 75% match fitness when there are others waiting in the wind 100% fit seems odd to me. Saffies deserved this, they fought hard, came back to win 1 of the biggest run chases in history at the WACA, then came back at the MCG from 8 down. Duminy was cool under pressure and his 166 was magnificent(seems SA are not lacking on bench strength), i felt Morkel was a bit off but the rest of the bowlers did well, the surprise for me was Harris, id never seen him b4, he bowled tight when he needed to, and didnt mind throwing it up to entice the shot if Smith thought the field needed to be attacking, and Smith was more than happy to listen to his spinner for fielding placements which drew the wicket of Ponting just after his century. As an Aussie there were some good points to take out of it, Ponting was in great form and deserved 2 centuries, he dug in and toughed it out, Katich also did well, Clarke had a gritty 1st day that he carried into the 2nd day to fight a rear guard action with the tail, Symonds, Hussey, Hayden all failed, and Haddin was average, the bowling was average at best overall. Congrats to the saffies, they are the team to beat in Tests atm, i feel we are going to get pounded in SA when we tour there :D

[kannanp7]

South Africa needs to win in Sydney to reclaim number-one spot in Reliance Mobile ICC Test Champions Australia has held top spot since August 2001 and was second only for eight months out of the last 13 years Australia last suffered a clean sweep on home turf in 1886-87; five defeats in this calendar year is worst for 23 years South Africa will reclaim number-one sport in the Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship table from Australia if it wins the third and last Test, starting in Sydney from 3 January. Under the current means of calculating the leading side in Test cricket, Australia has held top spot since August 2001 and has indeed been number-one for all but eight months out of the last 13 years when South Africa led the championship table for three months in late 1999 and for five months in 2001. As the ICC Test Championship is only updated at the end of each series, South Africa’s six-wicket win in Perth and nine-wicket victory in Melbourne will not yet be reflected on the table. But if the Proteas win in Sydney, it will put both teams level on 123 ratings points but Graeme’s Smith’s side will be placed higher by a fraction of a point. In this case, just five ratings points would separate the top three teams in the world with India sitting in third place on 118 ratings points. In the middle, only eight ratings points separate fourth-placed Sri Lanka from sixth-placed England. However, all the talk of South Africa regaining the number-one spot for the first time in almost seven-and-a-half years will go out of the window if Australia wins or draws the Sydney Test. If Australia wins, it will retain the number-one spot on 126 points while South Africa will be second on 121 ratings points while a draw will keep Australia ahead of South Africa on 124 ratings points but the difference will be reduced to just two points as compared to the pre-series gap of 13 points. South Africa’s win in Melbourne has also kept Graeme Smith’s side on course for a clean sweep over Australia, something which the most dominant side in recent years last suffered way back in 1886-87 when Arthur Shrewsbury’s England beat Percy McDonnell’s Australia by 13 runs and 71 runs in the two Tests played in Sydney. Besides the 1886-87 series, Australia has only lost all the Tests of a series on three occasions with the last being 26 years ago. In that instance Kim Hughes’ side was beaten 3-0 by Imran Khan’s men in Pakistan in 1982-83. The other series in which Australia lost all the Tests was in South Africa in 1969-70 when Ali Bacher inspired his side to a 4-0 win over Bill Lawry’s Australia and in England in 1886 when Allan Steel’s Englishmen beat Henry Scott’s Australia 3-0. In addition to this, Australia’s Test defeats this calendar year now amount to five, a number not suffered by an Australia side since 1985. Reliance Mobile ICC Test Championship (as of 30 December) Rank Team Rating 1 Australia 130 2 India 118 3 South Africa 117 4 Sri Lanka 108 5 England 103 6 Pakistan 100 7 West Indies 81 8 New Zealand 81 9 Bangladesh 0 :two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up: :two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up:: two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up:: two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up:: two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up: :two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up:

[fineleg]

We would have won in SL had it not been for Mendis. SF lost there without having to face him.

what abt Murli? In anycase, Murli and Mendis will be there for a while together. So, we have to overcome the M&M

[Feed]

Champs no more, but they raised the bar : Akash Chopra I" ve told that it's every Indian cricket lover's delight to see Australia lose. But then again, every cricketing nation's dream is to do what Australia have done i.e., dominate the world for over a decade while constantly upping the bar, writes Aakash Chopra. More... Champs no more, but they raised the bar Aakash Chopra December 31, 2008 First Published: 00:12 IST(31/12/2008) Last Updated: 00:18 IST(31/12/2008) I" ve told that it's every Indian cricket lover's delight to see Australia lose. But then again, every cricketing nation's dream is to do what Australia have done i.e., dominate the world for over a decade while constantly upping the bar. For a long time, they weren't even competing against anyone else — no other team was good enough to challenge their supremacy. Instead, they obsessed with setting themselves goals, whether it was winning a record number of Tests in a row or lifting the World Cup without losing a game. Even with my limited experience at the highest level, I can assure you that it takes a lot to win a single Test, leave alone win 16 in a row over different continents and against different oppositions. But the Aussies managed what was a near impossible ask with ease, even attaining an aura of invincibility for a while. So now we come to what it takes to usurp a champion. Logically, two things: Skill and belief. And the fascinating part is that you don't necessarily have to beat a champion yourself, even the sight of him beaten can spur you on. Remember the 4-minute-mile barrier? The landmark wasn't achieved for decades but once Sir Roger Bannister made that seemingly impossible run, people kept breaking it almost every month. Now that the Australian stronghold has been breached, teams are sensing the change in tide. The future holds boundless possibilities. But at this moment, while it must be wonderful to be South African, how can I not feel for this Australian team? We lesser mortals are horribly familiar with that sinking feeling: when nothing you do is right and no matter how hard you try it's just not good enough. At a very different level, our last domestic season taught me that. I played for four teams (India-A, Delhi, Rest of India and North Zone) and always ended up on the winning side. Whenever we needed a wicket, a partnership, an outstanding fielding effort or even an umpiring decision went our way. This went on for nearly seven months till the Deodhar and disaster coincided. We would push ourselves during training; give each other pep talks, just to remind ourselves that we were good enough. Nothing worked. This Australian team, I suspect, feels the same. Let's cut them some slack. Australia mastered the delicate art of staying at the top for as long as possible. They established a new world order and whatever the rest of us do in future will revolve around an attempt to emulate their imperious success. So instead of deriving sadistic pleasure from Australia's defeats, perhaps we should enjoy what will hopefully be a wonderful ride to the top. (The author has played 10 Tests for India and is currently captain of the Delhi Ranji Trophy team. His debut book, Beyond the Blues, will be in stores on January 8).

[Lord]

why is he feeling for the aussies?he should read the first line of his own article